


Dear Keith - Love, your father

by Introverted_Cupcake_x



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Letter, Oneshot, first-person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 04:18:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13849944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Introverted_Cupcake_x/pseuds/Introverted_Cupcake_x
Summary: "Nobody would have believed me if I told them that I met a being from outer space, especially since we made you months after our first meeting. She was like a wildcat when I first met her, in the wreckage of an escape pod that she travelled in to escape danger. Her leg was wounded badly, but she still had a lot of fight in her. I never knew I’d fall in love so easily when someone almost shot me in the face. Maybe you will fall for someone in the same way that I did. When or if it does happen, don’t be startled."18 years ago, a man living a simple life in the desert pens a letter after the departure of someone who made him realise how lonely he was.





	Dear Keith - Love, your father

_ Dear Keith, _

_ I know you won’t find this letter, but I feel that I have to write down my feelings. Particularly as they relate to your mother Krolia, my lady from the stars. _

_ Nobody would have believed me if I told them that I met a being from outer space, especially since we made you months after our first meeting. She was like a wildcat when I first met her, in the wreckage of an escape pod that she travelled in to escape danger. Her leg was wounded badly, but she still had a lot of fight in her. I never knew I’d fall in love so easily when someone almost shot me in the face. Maybe you will fall for someone in the same way that I did. When or if it does happen, don’t be startled. _

_ I helped her back to the shack, tended to her wound, and she finally admitted who she was and told me that there’s a great danger in the distant galaxies that’ll one day come to Earth and enslave humanity. Luckily for us, she’s got colleagues fighting against the Galra Empire, but it was saddening to hear her say that she has to lie low and pretend that she died in the crash in order to preserve the Blade Of Marmora’s secrecy. Well, it’s not like I got a spaceship of my own to leave and spread the secret around (ahaha) so her secrets are safe with me. _

_ But oh my stars, Krolia is the most beautiful woman I met. Her hair very much reminds me of what some quirky college girls would style their hair after binge-watching numerous anime, but it suits her very well. When she’s angry or hurt, her hairs bristle like a cat’s. She eats like a workhorse too and it’s amusing when I find her clothes to help her blend in when we walk amongst the general human population. The poor gal must’ve had it rough in space, because she’s always on a lookout for intruders or anyone holding a potential weapon, even at night when I’d wake up and see her sitting at the window holding my rifle, incredible eyes with their steely glare scanning the desert expanse like a trained killer. Gods, I miss the nights where we can just hold each other and shut out the outside world… Sorry, son, I must be getting old for reminiscing all these memories. More importantly, I hope that you both find each other in the best of health. _

_ The advantage of us living alone together - no racket or ruckus from city people. We have nothing but the shack, my hunting rifle, the stove and the clear starry sky to gaze upon in the night. From our moments of closeness, I discovered that Galra emit a higher body temperature than humans do. That’s why when you were born under the half-moon, I was scared that you developed a fever and would die in minutes, but Krolia laughed and told me that a high temperature is a sign of good health in newborn Galra. Except you were part-Galra, part-human… and part-Altean. That last bit she never explained to me, but seemed sad about, but said that it’ll be part of you that will shine with brilliance just as much as your entire being. _

_ Mixed-race births are on the rise in the USA, particularly with immigration and cultures merging and changing. I might be the first human to have a healthy living mixed-species baby with a mixed-race non-human-being (I refuse to say ‘alien’ because it’s rude and if anyone calls Krolia that I will slaughter them and bury then under the patio for the lizards to eat.) But when I first saw you, crying in her arms mere moments after being born, nobody would’ve guessed that your mother came from outer space due to your human features. Your eyes, however, are dark like voids with a hint of violet in them - you definitely have your mother’s eyes. _

_ With limited parts on Earth, it took Krolia 2 years to finally fix her ship. But by then, she grew more relaxed and accustomed to Earth, plus she was carrying you the whole time. Even when the 7 months were over (as opposed to the human’s 9) and she carried you on a sling, she still carried on testing, fixing, feeding you, eating, sleeping… Everything was about fixing the ship ASAP. I think motherhood frightened her much more than the dangers that she used to tell me about her past missions. She never had a female role-model or a mother of her own, so this was entirely new territory. I admit, I was scared too of being a father, because what if I forget about you and you somehow miraculously learn how to drive Krolia’s escape pod? Yes, I legitimately had that fear, so sue me. But after your birth, and I don’t mean to sound clingy, but I felt neglected. Left out. Abandoned. Luckily Krolia and I are close enough to talk about our problems (because we’d be a bad couple if we kept any issues to ourselves) and she just suddenly cried. She explained that the Blades Of Marmora all push aside their emotional connections, friends and family in order to carry out missions successfully. She loves you and I, but if she doesn’t go back to fight Emperor Zarkon, then who will? Who is going to wait another 10,000 years for someone to topple a powerful empire? Who will reactivate Voltron to fight for peace? _

_ So we had a chat that night, discussed what’s needed to be said, then she packed what she needed. Now, Keith, there are different types of kisses: the soft pecks, the brisk ones, forehead kisses, cheeks, nose, neck… happy kisses, sad kisses, etc. The kiss we shared was the longest we had. If she had stayed a second longer, she would’ve given up on her return. But before she entered the ship, she handed me her blade, the very item that a Blade member is sworn to protect with their lives and is an extension of themselves. It feels like I’m holding her hand every time I examine it’s beauty before wrapping a bandage around it for safety. _

_ I miss her so much, Keith. It physically hurts. I never thought I’d fall in love so much, and now my lady of the stars has gone to fight evil. She’s a true hero. I wish I could’ve gone with her and taken you, then you’d have a more ideal childhood relating to others of your races, but Krolia personally threatened to bury me under the steps to feed the lizards if I come with her and bring you along into possible danger. I even considered hiding in the ship’s containers, but she’d only kick me out from the sky. We’re talking about someone who is a hardcore rebel against a dictatorship, a crash survivor and gave birth to a baby that’s large compared to her body. My hand still has scars from letting her hold it during labour. _

_ I’m sorry that I never wrote this for you to read. As I’m writing this, you’re sleeping in the empty beer crate I furnished with cotton lining and soft pillows. I occasionally look around this shack and damn not every parent would be thrilled to live in a dump. But I hope that you won’t grow up to be picky, either. You already have your mother’s loud voice, and I hope you grow to be more like her so that I know that the woman I met was not a dream, but a real being with a good heart deep down and who is not afraid to call out bullshit. _

_ It’s almost night. I better save the candlelight. I got more bedtime stories to tell you tomorrow night, I can’t wait to tell you of the time I took your mother swimming and she hissed like an actual cat. _

_ Sweet dreams, Keith, and I’ll be wishing that your future will be bright in case anything happens to me. Until then… _

_ Sleep tight. I love you. _

* * *

Gulping and wiping his eyes, the man held back a shuddering sigh as he folded the letter and put it in an envelope before slipping it in the desk drawer. Nearby in a wooden crate, an 11-month old baby snored lightly with his little hands balled up. Crickets chirped, but the sharp clicks did not wake the young one.

“It’s been days, Keith,” he whispered, and tears finally rolled down his face, “but I’ll make this work. Even if it kills me, I’ll make sure you grow up healthy and that you’ll never be alone. Your mother’s the only person who made me realise how lonely I’ve been this whole time until I met her. Maybe someday you’ll find someone special too. It doesn’t matter if you do or not, but never forget that nobody is alone.” The baby, Keith, didn’t stir at his soft-spoken words. Carefully, he stood up from his chair and walked over to place a gentle kiss on his smooth head. “Goodnight, Keith… Even in your nightmares you are not alone. Just call my name, and I’ll slay the monsters.”

**Author's Note:**

> Season 5, eh, guys? I especially cried hard after episode 5.


End file.
